


Fake Engagement

by ChewyTapioca



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: 90s Kon-El | Conner Kent, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Batfamily (DCU), Fake/Pretend Relationship, I just think t-shirt and jeans are a stupid costume, Idiots in Love, M/M, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Wayne - Freeform, Wayne Gala (DCU), or Rebirth Outfit Kon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChewyTapioca/pseuds/ChewyTapioca
Summary: Vicki furrowed her brows. “Tell me honestly, Mr Kent, what is Tim Drake’s secret?”The woman awaited his response, he had to respond quickly.With no clue, Conner opened his mouth and what came out he couldn’t believe, “He’s… We’re… We’re engaged.”---Unrolling the paper of Gotham Gazette, Tim found himself frozen still.‘ENGAGED. Teen Wayne Heir Tim Drake to Wed Small Town Boy.’How long was he out for?ORVicki Vale is determined to find out what Tim Drake-Wayne is hiding and his mysterious trips to Europe for his Red Robin missions don't exactly help his case. So, now Tim and Conner have decided to be engaged as a coverup and it goes how you imagine it might...
Relationships: Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 13
Kudos: 130





	Fake Engagement

Slumping on the velvety couch, Kon used his super senses to peer into the entrance of the manor as the butler answered the ringing of the door.

“Master Bruce is not here at the moment,” Alfred delivered in an apathetic tone to the red-headed journalist, sounding like something he had said a million times before.

“Oh, I’m not here to see Bruce… I’m here to see Tim Drake,” Vicki Vale replied bearing her television reporting smile.

The Superboy remained on high alert, as he stood up beginning to examine around the manor while the witted butler dealt with the intruding reporter.

Kon was meant to be protecting Alfred. According to Tim, Ra’s Al Ghul had sent assassins to hurt the people who Batman most cared about.

The Boy of Steel had no clue what exactly the former Boy Wonder had gotten himself into. But it was relieving that after months of pushing everyone away, Tim finally went to his friends for help. Perhaps Tim eventually realised, he couldn’t do everything alone which satisfied Kon.

So, if Tim trusted Kon to keep Alfred safe, then he wasn’t going to let him down.

“Master Timothy… Is far too young for you,” Alfred sarcastically commented to the intrusive journalist.

“Funny, is he here?”

“Not at the present, perhaps you should call next time.”

Vicki’s smile fell with her arms crossed leaning on one heel. “Oh, I did call, Alfred. I called Tim’s school, he has been on family leave for weeks signed by Bruce. I talked to his worried school friends, saying he never mentioned a family leave. And none of my calls to Bruce have gone through.”

The reporter stepped forward challenging and showing no notion of backing down. “It seems like a simple question, want to take a stab? Where is Tim Drake?”

Listening and peeking into the conversation outdoors, Kon continued to patrol around the manor, until he was interrupted by colliding his foot into a wooden table leg causing the ceramic vase on top to wobble violently.

In a panicked frenzy, Kon inhumanely sped diving to catch the dropping porcelain vase, to only slip out of his hands making an ear-shattering noise. Looking back, he could’ve used his tactile telekinesis to catch it, but everything happened so quick. _Great going, Kon._

“Who's there?!” Vicki pushed Alfred aside, inviting herself in.

“No one, Ms Vale. Might I ask you to leave?”

 _Shit._ The clicking of red heels steadily increased in volume. How exactly could he explain why _Superboy_ of all people was doing there?

Conner’s mind went into a frenzy, he frantically combed his hair down with his fingers, snatched his glasses, used his tactile telekinesis to fling off his leather jacket, shoving it under the velvety couch. He then buttoned his blue flannel shirt and pulled his jeans on top of the superhero gear in a superspeed fashion. Thank goodness, he happened to bring his clothes. 

Slipping into the frame, Vicki’s eyes slid up and down the glasses-wearing boy rubbing his neck over the broken artefact. The reporter scrunched up her face. “Did Bruce adopt another kid?”

Alfred stepped in. “Apologies, this is Master Tim’s friend. He was just dropping something off and I invited him in for tea.”

Conner coughed, trying to act as natural as possible. “Yeah, can’t say no to Alfred’s tea. Sorry about the vase, by the way.”

Alfred eyed the shattered ceramic on the floor and sighed. “It is all good Master Conner.”

Hopefully, it wasn’t too expensive. Who was he kidding? Everything in this manor was probably beyond Clark’s reporter salary.

“Conner?” Vicki’s eyebrows quirked.

“Conner Kent.”

The woman squinted as if searching in her mind if she knows anyone of that name. Perhaps she may have heard Clark Kent’s name before, but Conner wasn’t sure how much Gotham journalists were acquainted with the Metropolis ones.

“Vicki Vale from Gotham Gazette,” the woman leaned in firmly shaking his hand. “Do you know Tim Drake-Wayne’s whereabouts in the last couple of months? It seems like a question no one these days can answer.”

Smiling sheepishly, Conner darted from Alfred’s exhausted face and then back to the eager foot-tapping woman. “Uh… He’s been in Europe. Paris.”

“With who?”

“Me,” Conner said immediately to the reporter who responded with a raise of a brow. “I mean I uh… Yeah, we went together,” Conner half lied. Technically he did fly and check on Red Robin in Paris, doing what Tim did best, _brooding_.

“Really? Is that it? And he never told his friends about it and it was written off as a ‘family leave’?” Vicki furrowed her brows. “Tell me honestly, Mr Kent, what is Tim Drake’s secret?”

What could he say? Damn, could reporters be so stubborn and nosey. Though, he already had known this from seeing Lois work too. Vicki Vale was just doing what she did best, her job.

The woman awaited his response, he had to respond quickly.

With no clue, Conner opened his mouth and what came out he couldn’t believe, “He’s… We’re… We’re engaged.”

The boy stood still, frozen at his own words. _What?_

“What?” Vicki mimicked his internal thoughts.

Heck, even for a brief moment there was an astonished Alfred before he returned to his calm butler poker face demeanour.

 _Dammit, Conner._ Tim was so going to kill him for this. But now that he’s already gone with it, he figured he could just go with the cover-up story to hide Tim’s secret mission as Red Robin and figure out how to deal with all this later.

“So… Paris? The city of love… You proposed?” Vicki suggested rather than asked.

Conner nodded looking half sure in all honesty. “Uh… yeah…”

Turning away, Vicki rested her chin on her fist deep in thought, before facing back to the flannel-wearing boy. “May I ask, whereabouts are you from, Conner?”

“Uh… Smallville. It’s a small town in Kansas.”

Vicki scanned Conner from head to toe like he was being judged on spot.

“Makes sense. The prestige heir to Wayne Enterprises engaged to a boy, let alone a nameless country bumpkin would spark controversy. The Wayne family would have wanted to keep this under wraps,” Vicki muttered mostly just to herself.

Trying to just ignore the plain insults that would’ve hurt his ego, Conner’s eyes darted to the butler screaming inside.

“Ms Vale, it is about time you leave,” Alfred guided over to the open door.

Vicki clasped her hand on the strap of her satchel bag and strutted out with a satisfied grin before turning her head to Conner. “Thank you, Mr Kent.”

And just like that, she left, actually cooperating for once.

As soon as she was out of sight, Superboy let out a deep sigh, releasing the tension in his muscles and stripping away his ‘Conner Kent’ gear. In all honesty, he was ready to bust ninja assassin ass rather than deal with the news and media.

It must suck that Tim and the Waynes have to deal with it all the time. Though this was also saying as the half clone of a reporter.

“Alfred I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to say,” Kon flew down alongside the man to the Batcave.

“All is good, master Conner, you did what you thought you had to in order to protect Tim. Maybe now, she’s convinced and will leave us alone.”

Just as Alfred finished, the black covered figures they had awaited for appeared out of the shadows. “Alfred Pennyworth. Ra’s Al Ghul sends his regards.”

Superboy grinned wide, now this was what he was here for.

Taking the group of ninjas down was a breeze, no matter the assassins that surrounded, his superspeed was beyond comprehension as he punched the living daylights out of them. They might be highly trained killers but they were just human who had no experience with a Kryptonian, his presence was unexpected and unplanned for. Ra’s just had no idea what his men were up against.

Anyways, most importantly, he protected Alfred as he promised. Bringing the walkie talkie given by Tim to his ear, he could hear Ra’s Al Ghul’s voice. “Was coming here to foolishly confront me worth sacrificing the lives of all those your mentor holds dear? Was it worth the compromise?”

Kon felt a burning warmth in his chest as he heard the words of his Robin. “See, that’s where you're wrong. I’m done compromising. _Report_.”

Lit up knowing that was his cue, Kon held down the button, swinging the walkie talkie to his mouth amused. “Hey, Ra’s. How’s it going?”

Just imagining Ra’s’ shocked face to Tim’s plan excited the Kryptonian. “Alfred Pennyworth is fine, by the way. Nice try.”

One by one, the heroes reported back.

“Selina Kyle is super-fine! This is Impulse BTDubbz.”

“Batgirl here, Jim Gordon is clear.”

“Huntress reporting, Lucius Fox is alive. The assassins are… more or less alive.”

“Wonder Girl here, Barbara Gordon is well… She kind of saved herself…”

“Nightwing, Red Hood and I are okay. Really Grandfather? Ninjas? I’m insulted.”

It made Kon proud that _his_ Robin outwitted _the_ demon head. Tim finally proved he wasn’t like Batman, because he had friends who he wasn’t afraid to ask help from when he needed it.

However, in the back of Conner’s head, he couldn’t help but feel an unsettling feeling in his stomach over what he told Vicki Vale. Hopefully, Vicki would let it blow over and just went to find something else to report on. You know, out of the respectfulness of not outing Bruce Wayne’s kid to the whole city.

Vicki just wouldn’t, would she?

* * *

“He’s waking up.”

Tim’s eyes fluttered open, squinting at the white operating light above him and discerning the murmuring voices of his family.

“Tim, you’re okay, you’re in the Batcave,” Batman assured as Tim lifted himself forward wincing in pain, feeling his hand pressed against the bandages wrapped on his torso and body.

Tim took note of the shattered mask on the benchtop, jogging his memory. That’s right. After foiling the plans of the Demon Head, Ra’s beat him and shoved him through the city scrapper window. Falling to his death, at that moment all he could think about is how he saved all the people Bruce cared about, or how proud he would’ve made him. Instead, the Batman appeared to be back in Gotham frowning in a thin line toward him.

But Dick saved him… Like he knew deep inside he would.

The Flying Grayson gave a dejected look, “How’d you know? How did you know I’d be there to save you?”

Tim let out his know-it-all grin. “You’re my brother, Dick. You’ll always be there for me.”

Shifting on his right, he noticed the scowl of the youngest. “Damian… Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. Is there not something really important that you should’ve mentioned?”

Staring at the boy blankly, he then eyed Jason leaning back with an amused smirk on his face. _Oh no, bad sign._

“Congrats, you dog. You made the front page,” Jason pressed a rolled-up newspaper to Tim’s still aching abdomen making him almost flinch.

Unrolling the paper of Gotham Gazette, he found himself frozen still.

‘ **ENGAGED. Teen Wayne Heir Tim Drake to Wed Small Town Boy**.’

How long was he out for? Tim scrolled his eyes at the picture of him suited, getting out of the limousine at an event, paired with an ordinary school picture of Conner likely from Smallville High. At the bottom of the page read ‘By Vicki Vale’.

“You do realise how bad this looks on the family and company, Drake. Might I also mention Kent had never asked Father for your hand in marriage,” Damian scoffed in irritation.

Dick grasped his hand on Tim’s shoulder. “What he means is… This is just a lot. We expected to hear it from you.”

“Wow, Timmers. Never knew you had it in you to go behind the old man’s back like that.” Jason nudged him with a shit-eating grin.

Meanwhile, Tim found himself target to the infamous bat glare and grunt of frustration from the man in the black cowl.

A million things ran through Tim’s mind, the light above only gave him more of a headache.

Engaged? To Conner out of all people? Months ago, when Tim had thought Conner was dead, he had an obsession to try to create a perfect clone of Kon to have him back in his life. Tim even kissed the Superboy’s ex as some desperate attempt to have _some_ part of him in his life.

He was alone, he was in a dark place where he pushed everyone he loved away.

When Conner came back, everything seemed right. Fidgeting on the spot at the inner turmoil, he remembered how he stared at the boy in disbelief that he was even real. He recalled how he clung onto him to confirm to himself he was actually there and that it hadn’t been a dream as he felt the warmth of the Kryptonian body on his.

However, this came to the conclusion that Tim desperately tried to drive away from. Whenever he felt the world was against him, that no one believed in him, Conner was always by his side. The Superboy blossomed something foreign in his chest which made Tim’s calculated and analytical little head alert an error in the system.

Tim shook himself out of his trance. He needed to come back to Earth and face the facts. “No, we’re not like that. I-.”

“I disapprove of this relationship. Tim, you’re too young. Conner is half Kryptonian and half Luthor, he is far too dangerous for you.”

 _Of course, he’d say that._ Gritting his teeth at how Bruce talked about Conner, Tim opened his mouth in some sort of retaliation before Alfred walked in tea and cookies on hand, clearing his throat in interruption.

“Apologies, Master Tim. It appears Ms Vale had been prying about your last disappearances. Master Conner did as he could to avoid her further suspicions.”

“I see,” Batman sighed relieved.

“Vicki has been on our radar lately. If we make her believe Tim became engaged with Conner, she’ll have to drop why we’ve been uptight about Tim’s run away to Europe,” Dick suggested.

Bruce nodded and turned his head to Tim. “Dick is right. This could be good for us. Make her believe you two were infatuated with each other to the point of rushing an engagement. You guys can break it off months after when her suspicions are gone.”

it was a good idea, hated to admit it but there wasn’t any other way to take account of his disappearances overseas other than the truth of his emotional Red Robin runaway dealings with the League of Assassins.

“That’ll be fun. Timmy acting so deep in the honeymoon phase, making a life decision with no thinking or preplanning.” Jason mocked. “Sounds nothing like him.”

Jason was right, he really needed to give a convincing performance… Keeping his romantic feelings inside was what was more familiar rather than wearing it on his sleeve.

Upon deep thought, he stared off to the distance and there was a bouquet of white roses on top of a bench. They couldn’t be for the…

“Ahhh… What are those for?” He pointed out.

Dick turned to see where Tim was pointing. “Uh yeah… The Teen Titans sent them when they heard the news…”

Groaning, Tim threw his face into his hands. “Who else thinks me and Superboy are engaged?”

“I’m betting the whole superhero community. You should’ve seen B’s face every time a Justice League member called to congratulate him,” Jason chuckled as Bruce let out an unpleased grunt.

At that moment Tim wished he could disappear off the face of the planet.

“Big Blue, Superman hasn’t called yet. I bet he’s freaking out.”

On the table, his phone vibrated with the smiling face of a blonde girl in a Wonder Woman jacket on screen.

Oh right, Cassie… This isn’t going to look good, she must’ve found out alongside the Teen Titans, he’s going to have to explain quickly. Tim answered the call holding his breath.

“Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne.”

Timothy made a small prayer in his head to Hera, praying the Wonder Girl wasn’t going to fly in and punch him then.

“Look, Cassie, it’s not what you think.”

“That my ex-boyfriend moved on to be engaged with a guy I kissed once? Or that two of my close friends got engaged without telling me?” The Wonder Girl scoffed.

“No, Cassie. It’s just a cover-up. Remember when I left Gotham unaccounted?”

“Okay, so this is to give your public reason for running away?”

“Yes,” Tim answered.

The line went silent, maybe Cassie was thinking about Tim’s now fucked up situation.

“And we just need to convince Vicki, that we’re in love with each other for her to get off my back,” he further elaborated.

“…And you’re okay with that?” She sounded concerned for some reason.

“What do you mean?”

“Tim, I know you have feelings for Conner… I’ve known for a while…”

Paralysed, Tim felt this overwhelming embarrassment and discomfort growing inside him. Who else knows? Was he _that_ obvious? Does Kon know?

“N-No,” he stammered at any chance, he really didn’t want anyone to know about this.

“Oh Hera. I will literally tie you in my lasso of truth, don’t think you can try to deny it. And don’t worry, Kon didn’t inherit the intelligence side of Lex, he doesn’t know.”

Tim gasped in relief, he was sure Cassie could even hear it.

“Anyways, thanks for clearing up the engagement thing, I just felt out of the loop. I also get if you don’t wanna talk about your feelings now but just be careful,” the demigod told the tired boy, who really just wanted to sleep.

But Tim knew, he needed to talk to Conner, soon.

* * *

“Conner… you uh… have something to tell us?” Clark focused eye to eye to the young man as he pulled out a seat at the table.

Conner cluelessly glanced up to his parental doner while sipping his water. “No…?”

With her arms crossed, Lois scowled at the boy right across her, as her pancakes and eggs remained untouched.

Did Conner do something wrong? Was this about sinking the tractor? Or skipping out on school?

“When were you going to tell us you’re engaged to a Wayne?” Lois spat out, slamming her hands on the table causing Conner to choke on his drink.

Coughing, Conner wiped his mouth hesitantly. “I’m guessing you uh, read the news?”

“Conner… We work **_for_ **the news,” Clark threw the paper on the table.

Conner grimaced. _Vicki was sure quick._

Jon curiously picked up the paper, pulling to his face before darting the paper down, “Whoah! You’re marrying Damian’s older bro?”

While all eyes at the table were on him, Conner gave his younger brother a sheepish smile. He needed to explain before the younger Superboy got a bit too excited.

“Bruce is going to kill me,” Clark cried deflated, head in hands.

Oh yeah, Batman… How was he taking this? Does Conner just have to accept the fact his days were numbered?

“What happened to that Wonder Girl you fancied?” Ma popped in placing her sweet cinnamon-infused apple pie onto the table.

“Ma, we broke up a while back, we’re just friends.”

Pa took the paper, examining it before facing it toward Conner. “Well, congrats boy. You made front cover. Should frame this up.”

Conner slouched in his seat. Oh great, the whole town must’ve known. No, the whole of Gotham City too.

“You could’ve gotten engaged into any family. And you chose the one that stores Kryptonite in their basement,” Clark pointed out, weakly slipping a fork of pancake into his mouth.

Conner leaned back on his seat, finally going to clear things up. “This is just a cover-up. Vicki Vale was asking about his whereabouts and I told her honestly that he was in Paris. And I couldn’t just tell her he was doing superhero stuff, so…”

“You told her you guys got engaged there,” Lois jerked her fork to the boy.

“Yes…”

Before anyone could say anything else like how insane the plan was, the family phone interrupted, and Ma left the table to pick it up.

“Hello? Yes, this is the Kent household.”

Ma listened in and then glanced at Conner. “No, Conner is not home, he isn’t available for an interview. Goodbye.”

The sweet woman meekly smiled at the boy who bit on his lip anxiously.

“Great, they found you,” Lois groaned.

Conner slumped even lower in his seat. What was he thinking about this engagement coverup? It was stupid and he was just waiting for Tim to chop his head off with his Kryptonite Batarangs, which who knows probably exists.

Speaking of the devil Conner’s phone binged and he was almost too afraid to look.

 **Tim:** Meet me on top of Titans Tower.

 **Tim:** We need to talk.

* * *

Superboy floated down onto the tower, rambling himself side to side looking for the hero.

As he turned to face back forward, he swung back letting out a small yelp as his sunglasses faltered and the Red Robin who magically appeared before him startled him.

_He always does this._

Kon fixed the sunglasses that dropped on his nose. “Dude, you gotta stop doing that!”

“Stop doing what?” The masked vigilante tilted his head to the side innocently.

Kon sighed, knowing at the back of his head what they were meeting up for. He was prepared to get an earful from Red Robin, well here goes nothing.

He ran his hand through his raven hair and took a deep breath.

“Look I know I messed up, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking and it was the spur of the moment. I have no idea how you deal with Vicki and all that jazz. I know it was so stupid and-“

“No, Kon, its genius,” Tim snuck out a gentle smile. Conner blinked, it had caught him off guard.

“Really?” Conner grinned like a fool.

Tim’s mask lens squinted as his lips turned, his cape covered him like a cloak, blowing ever so slightly in the breeze. “Yes. I think Vicki suspects I might be Red Robin. My weird unexplained disappearances to Europe seem all the more suspicious. But if she thinks I just ran away with a Smallville boy. It’d justify why none of my classmates or anyone knew.”

Kon raised both his brows. “Because it's scandalous?”

“Yes! Everyone expects I’ll marry CEO Lucius Fox’s daughter Tam Fox. But instead, I get engaged to a commoner boy from a small town.”

It wasn’t like that didn’t somehow damage Kon’s self-esteem, though truthfully, he really shouldn’t care, it wasn’t like he was _actually_ engaged to him or anything. At least Tim was in a better mood than he expected.

“So… You’re not mad?” Kon itched his face.

The detective shook his head. “No, it works perfectly. However, we need to convince Vicki that we're really in love.” Looking dead in the eyes of Kon, the boy was unmoved and focused. “You think you’re up for the challenge?”

Kon held his breath and returned the eye contact. “If it gets her out of your hair, then I’ll do anything for you.”

Tim lens widened, parting his lips as his cape rid the wind, staring at the Kryptonian. Kon used his x-ray vision to peek under the concealing black mask at the bemused blue eyes, the same hue as his suit while listening to the tune of the fastened heartbeat. He didn’t know the batboy could get so nervous, this all must be truthfully stressing him out. But Batman must’ve raised him to hide honest emotions like that…

Tim coughed, shifting on the spot and tucking his hair behind his ear prompting Kon to blink back to normal vision.

“Okay, well Tam’s sister Tiffany Fox is holding a conference. Come and wait for me on the side, Vicki will be there.”

* * *

Tim stood out front beside Tiffany standing at the podium to a crowd of sitting journalists and news outlets, while her younger sister, Tam stood at her left side.

Behind the set was Conner waiting for him, so he could step out after it ended and pretend to do whatever couples did to show up Vicki Vale. They didn’t necessarily plan anything, they decided to just improvise.

_Great thinking Tim, not like you’ll be a flustered mess when your real feelings show._

This conference was important, it was to draw attention on Tim and make him a target for the two corrupt cops they were going to call out. If it goes according to plan, they will lure out Scarab an assassin in Red Robin’s hit list. Yeah, his life could be on the line, but he was used to risking it all the time anyways.

Tiffany bent the mic closer to her lips. “We called here to discuss a tarnishing of the Wayne Foundations Neon Knights youth centres by corrupt members of the GCPD, who threatened our members to break the treaty that saw an end to the gang violence of a few months ago.”

A seated reporter directed her recorder toward the podium. “Miss Fox, who are these officers?”

“We will withhold their names until we’ve presented our evidence to the district attorney’s office.”

An eager reporter stood up, pen in hand amongst the seated crowd. “A question for Mr Wayne. Maria Amardosa, GCN news. Can you tell us about your engagement?”

Of course, they cared more about the gossip and engagement than the actual unjust youth centre situation.

Tim stepped in front of Tiffany and grabbed the mic, “We’re not here to talk about that, but rather about the kids who are trying to turn their lives around and the information they gave me that calls our police department into question.”

Vicki Vale in the crowd stared intensely at Tim as he spoke, as if she had him all figured out. After the crowd dispersed as the conference ended, she stood up from her seat and approached Tim, smiling smugly and not breaking eye contact.

“Are you trying to get the spotlight off the Waynegagement?”

Tam scowled at the woman. “One front page not enough for you?”

“No, that was just to show young Mr Wayne the kind of attention I bring to bear.” Vicki raised a brow, crossing her arms and staring down Tim, self-satisfied. “Attention I could also lavish on the old Mr Wayne and Mr Grayson, among others and their oh, so… scandalous nightlife…”

Tam’s face contorted, fleeing away, Tim really needed to teach her to work on her poker face.

But there’s no way Vicki could know… But it might be as Tim feared, she was suspecting he was Red Robin and the family were-… Tim set a self-reminder of needing to pay Vale’s apartment a visit, to check whether she had hard evidence or it was plain guessing.

“Oh look, it’s your _fiancé_ ,” the woman continued to overly grin.

Looking behind, Conner emerged from the back as planned, joining Tim to play the part as his loving fiancé.

“Babe, you waited,” Tim changed uncharacteristically in attitude throwing himself into Conner’s chest, eyes gazed up into his eyes, overplaying on purpose.

Tim side-eyed the observant journalist before he raised his feet slightly from the ground to give Conner a peck on the cheek. _Improvising._

As Tim backed up from the peck to look at Conner, he became caught off guard at Conner’s bright blue eyes enlarged behind the glasses that dulled them, Tim was slightly amused but hoped he didn’t go too far.

Conner quickly composed himself as Tim’s eyes stared captivating him, making Tim’s neurotic system shut down, Conner just always had that effect on him.

“Lovebirds. Cute. Now you wouldn’t mind doing an interview on your ‘engagement’. Everyone is dying to know how you met.” Vicky shoved the recorder to the couple’s faces.

Tim curiously gazed back on Conner, he began to reminisce back when he was Robin having trouble with Poison Ivy, the day he first met him. He remembered being flung by Metallo across the air and being caught by the waist by a certain Superboy that saved his life.

That was how he first met Kon, romantic… Except for the part he pushed Tim down and kissed Ivy.

Suffices to say, Tim obviously couldn’t tell that story, so he just had to make it up.

His eyes followed back to the waiting reporter, giving her the classic Wayne smile. “Conner’s father Clark Kent actually works for Metropolis’ Daily Planet. Clark often interviews Bruce when we’re there, and that’s how this farm boy caught my eye.”

Vicki thrusted the recorder to Conner with a curled lip, “How about you Conner? What did you think of the young Wayne when you met him?”

Having an arm slouched over Tim’s shoulders, Conner had his fist out prepared to deliver and count each point. “Hmmm… Stuck up, pedantic, perfectionist, brooding-”

Tim nudged and elbowed Conner’s chest, knowing it didn’t hurt the boy one bit but doing it by force anyways. He glared at Conner, with a look screaming ‘What are you doing?’ before returning his smiling demeanour to show Vicki.

Conner gazed over to him and Tim rolled his eyes up to him waiting for him to continue.

Letting out a soft chuckle, eyes unmoving from Tim’s as he bared a smug smile. “Intelligent, resilient, caring and passionate. He’s a leader who looks out for others and does what he thinks is right. When he sets out do something, he puts his everything into it. I remember how there was no one else I had met as determined as him,” Conner picked up his fiancé’s hand and pecked his lips onto the soft pale skin.

Flushing red staring longingly, Tim still felt the tingling lips on his hand even as Conner let go. Leaning on his shoulder, close to his chest, Tim caught a whiff of earthiness and a hint of cinnamon likely from Martha Kent’s baking. Trying to steady the heart that didn’t want to stay in his chest, Tim internally begged that Conner wasn’t listening to his heart rate right then.

Forget his missing spleen, this boy was going to be the death of him.

Vicky Vale coughed forcing Tim to blink back to reality and acknowledge her existence.

“Conner, you will be attending Wayne Gala, will you not? Where the Gotham’s richest of the rich gather, I’m sure everyone would be interested in meeting Tim Wayne’s fiancé,” Vicki insisted with her pink lipstick lips forming a sly smile.

Tim clung onto the arm of Conner’s that wrapped itself on his waist. “Of course, he’ll be there.”

“Well then, see you there. I’ll save my other questions for then,” Vicki nodded before parading off as the clicking of her heels were no longer heard.

Conner retrieved his arm from Tim’s waist when the coast was clear. The feeling of close warmth dissipating from his body made Tim’s chest ache like something was missing or wrong.

Looking off to the distance biting his lip, Tim reminded himself that this was just an act and he couldn’t get too attached or deluded.

“Wayne Gala? Dude, I barely have a suit!” Conner knitted his brows stammered.

The suit dressed boy, combed back Conner’s hair before both his hands frantically fell to his sides. “Don’t worry, I can get something tailored for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> First fic, I hope you like it. I was reading the Red Robin comics and this idea popped to mind. It was actually supposed to be shorter but things happen... so, I decided to split it into two chapters.
> 
> Thanks to my amazing beta reader [Aranel_Grove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aranel_Grove) for helping out.


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